All devices that are connected to an internet connection have their IP address. As you can understand, there are billions of IP addresses worldwide.

IP addresses are visible to everyone on the internet. According to the IP address, other internet users can track your location, which provider you use to connect to the internet, and much more.

In this article, you’ll learn in detail what an IP address is and some simple methods on how you can hide your IP address.

What is an IP address?

First of all, an IP address is a number assigned by an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and is attached to every device online. It serves the purpose of communicating with other online resources effectively. There are two types of IP addresses: IPv4 and IPv6. Check out this blog post about IPv4 vs. IPv6 differences to learn more.

Think of an IP address as a personal ID card that classifies every device connected to the internet. To some extent, it functions just like our physical addresses do, identifying where the letters, parcels, and other goods should be delivered.

Without an IP address, you wouldn’t be able to access the mighty internet. Clearly, an IP address is a necessity, but what information about you does it reveal to the public?

Well, your IP address mostly reveals information related to an IP address origin and its geolocation:

• The Internet Service Provider (ISP)
• The IPs hostname
• Country, region/state, city, latitude and longitude, and area code
• Any recognized services running on an IP address

At first sight, this might seem reasonable enough, but as always, there’s a catch.

5 ways to hide your IP address

If you want to hide your tracks online, there are many ways to do it. Let’s see some options on how to hide your IP address. Don’t forget that every choice depends on your goals and why you need to hide your IP address.

1. Use a proxy

A Proxy or proxy server has its own IP address and acts as an intermediary between you and the internet. When internet users utilize a proxy, their internet request flows through the proxy server first, and only then connects to online resources. Once a proxy server collects the response from the web servers, it passes it back to the user, ensuring enhanced levels of anonymity, as a user’s real IP address isn’t exposed.

What’s more, proxies unlock further benefits for their users. Each residential proxy is tied to a specific location and provides access to geo-blocked content, even if the real IP address doesn’t have the power to access this particular online material. So if you’re looking to access content in Brazil, you can simply choose to use a Brazil proxy, or a German proxy for Germany.

If you’re looking to implement proxies into your online browser, check out how to set up a proxy in Chrome. Setting up proxies in your browser enhances your privacy and security levels online.

2. Use a VPN

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, and this is the most common way to hide your IP address. VPN is able to access region-restricted sites, protect your browsing activity, and more.

When you’re connecting to the internet, VPN works as an intermediary by hiding your IP address and creating a secure tunnel where your data is encoded. Websites only see the VPN server’s IP address and not your own. Also, these websites can’t access your real browsing data because it’s encrypted. You can find more details on both proxies and VPNs by reading this article.

3. Use TOR

TOR is open-source software that enables anonymous communication. Using TOR is a suitable solution to hide your IP address entirely. To put it simply, your traffic is directed through a bunch of different servers before reaching the targeted website.

You can use TOR if you’re searching for a free and easily accessible way to hide your IP address. However, this solution can noticeably slow down your internet connection. You should decide if this way fits your needs.

Also, if you’re searching for more free ways to hide your IP address, you can try a private search engine DuckDuckGo. It hides your IP address, so you can be sure that no one can track your browsing activity.

4. Use mobile network

If you’re searching for a fast way to hide your IP address, you can use your mobile network. Your IP address is able to change every time you turn on your mobile data. This makes your traffic less traceable.

You should know that this solution will slow connection speeds, use up your data plan, and data isn’t encrypted. This option will help you in certain situations, for example, when your IP is being attacked.

5. Connect to public Wi-Fi

Using your computer to connect to an open Wi-Fi network is a simple way to hide your IP address. However, there are many risks when connecting to public hotspot networks. For example, usually, there are many unchecked connections at the same time. Also, an unsecured public network creates security risks for your device.

You should think of this option in exceptional situations to hide your IP address to hedge from hackers.

Reasons to hide your IP address

The more you connect to the web, the easier it becomes to see the full picture of your online identity. It allows trackers to find out your actual name, surname, and, sometimes, even a physical address that’s associated with the IP address in question. Masking IP addresses may be the best solution if you want to feel safer while browsing the internet. Here are more reasons why you should think of hiding your IP address:

Hide your location

Usually, your IP doesn’t reveal your full address. However, the web admin may have a clue about your location from the IP address. If you want to stay completely anonymous, hiding your IP address may be the most common solution to do it.

Bypass Network Restrictions

There are networks that restrict certain content you can access. Using a different IP address will get you past limitations and make your internet activity more simple.

Avoid IP bans

If you’re interested in web scraping, you should know that the common issue is IP blocks by targeted servers. As a website gets a lot of requests when web scraping, your activity may be detected as suspicious, and you’ll be blocked. In this case, it’s necessary to hide or even rotate your IP address.

Block targeted attacks

Hackers will not see your real IP, so they can’t trace it back to you. They will not know who or where you’re, so it makes it a lot more difficult to do any damage.

More causes to hide your IP address

An IP address leaves its traces online, which makes it possible to determine a user’s behavior on the web for ISPs and eager onlookers. For instance, the Canadian Privacy Commissioner’s Office (OPC) experimented with how much information they could gather from a random IP address.

Only by using an IP address as a search term (something every single person can do online), they managed to uncover shockingly detailed information about the user’s online habits. They found out that users behind the chosen IP address visited sites related to specific religious groups, learned about their fitness preferences, and got access to online photo-sharing platform discussion boards where the person took part.

Should a business hide its IP address?

The answer isn’t that simple. In the cybersecurity industry, companies need to hide their IP addresses in order to stay anonymous when performing protective actions like anti-phishing. However, in the e-commerce world, companies have to be visible, well, in order to do business on the internet. Their websites are usually the primary source that generates the most sales. This means their web pages are connected to an IP address.

What’s more, for effective email communication with their consumers, a public IP address is required. This IP address directs emails to the business domain address. At this point, you may think that there’s no way businesses would choose to hide their IP addresses. However, they do. Businesses hide their web servers’ IP addresses, and one of the ways is by using a reverse proxy. A reverse proxy receives a request from internet users, passes it to a web server that can fulfill it, and brings back the server’s response to the user. This means that the real web server’s IP address is never exposed.

Wrapping it up

Now you know what your IP address can reveal and the different ways to stop websites from tracking your IP address. The safest and most common methods are proxies, or you can use a VPN. What’s more, it brings a further benefit to accessing content despite geo-blocks. The important part is that choosing a way to hide your IP address depends on your needs.

When it comes to businesses hiding their IP addresses, they choose to reverse their proxies. This allows companies to hide their public IP addresses in order to secure themselves and their infrastructure.